Monday, December 22, 2008

My first blog award: The Marie Antoinette Award, courtesy of Carole at Madness and Mess !And now the fine, FINE print:Rules of acceptance:1. Put the logo on your blog2.Place a link to the person who nominated you3.Nominate 7 blogs to receive this award4.Place a link to those blogs5.Leave a message on their blogs to let them know they have been given this award And who to nominate? I'll be back soon to do that part.p.s. You know the best part? It is Carole thanking me for being her blog buddy!And the nominees are:Grrl + Dog She is fun and inspiring. And she has a dog.Dream with the fishes There is SO much to see on this blog & I like her comments.Kate's Quilting & other fibre arts Not just because she's from Maryland, but beacuse she is incredible with fiber and very generous.Emily Falconbridge From her Mini-art Journal Challenge to her photos to her camera straps to her smile, I like it all.Well, I did 4 5 out of 7, not bad for an old broad! Merry Christmas!

But wait, there's more: mimiloveforever Because she combines embroidery, shiny stuff, and super watercolors on a canvas, and I wish I had thought of that myself (well, I can always imitate the original, but never as well), and because she has a great sense of humor, loves music~which seems to inspire and/or complete her art. And because she'a a Virgo, and because I like her & her blog.

I have 4 grandchildren who I love with all my heart. Brynee' is 16, and she has a boyfriend, is a cheerleader, and is an honor roll student. Anthony is 15 , and is a natural at any sport (as well as being incredibly funny and kind): football, wrestling, baseball, basketball. He does it all ,and he's good. They have lives that don't include being home a lot, and that's the way is should be for now. Lindsey is 11, Brian is 6, and these guys are home more often and most of the time are still content to cuddle with Nanny (me!) or play and/or make art. One of Brian's favorite things to do when I'm with them is to give me a toy gun so we can go outside to evade Germans, Russians, and/or zombies. It doesn't seem out of the ordinary that his 59 year old grandmother is playing with him. I know I still haven't explained Brian's posting, but I love the chance to write about the kids.Yesterday while Lindsey was playing a video game and her Dad (my son, Erich) was with her, Brian and myself went to the computer to look at Wookiepedia . Then we took a look a my blog because Brian likes to do that. He decided to play with one one the blog gadget pages, and spent a good amount time designing a posting for my blog, changing symbols, test, colors. then he was done and ready to post his design. At first the snooty, grown-up side of me was semi-horrified ("what would people think?"), but the Nanny side of me just said "sure, let's post it!". "What does this mean, "call church"? I asked. Brian said it just means people can call a church if they want to do that. (Note: none of my family currently attends any church). "So it doesn't mean anyone has to call a church", I asked. "Nope", said Brian. So now you know as much as I do about this posting.

Include a self-address, sufficiently stamped envelope for each ATC you send. If you are located outside the USA....send the envelope with stamps from your own country! We will be bundling those headed to each country and mailing them to a volunteer who will drop them into the postal service!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Last week, my grandson, Brian, went to the Book Fair at his elementary school. He bought a book for me and then gave it to me last Friday. He thought of me, his Nanny, at the Book Fair! and he picked out a book he knew I would love. And I do love it. This book will be put in my Art room and not in the living room on the "regular" bookshelves. Who knews what Art this book will inspire. Thank you, Brian Thomas!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Usually, I don't write a lot. I post a picture or two, or list a giveaway, etc.Today I want to write and I think it's all due to Chrysti's posting today. One of my favorite books is POEMCRAZY and that's Chrysti's giveaway for today. I have the book, but if I win my copy is going to my friend, Janet, in Seattle. If you don't have the book, go buy yourself a copy for Christmas. I feel like writing words, words, words, but I'm at work, work, work, so this will be a shorter posting than I want it to be.Some of my new favorite words are the verification words shown when posting comments on some blogs. Like "monogyper" and "croophs". Just think what a collage or two with those names would look like. See what a great book this is?Happy days!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

LK Ludwig has initiated "A Day of Sharing Song".I decided to tell a little more about me on this day & share some songs too.When I was much, much younger I played my parents 78s and some 45s and found a passion for music and voice. Eartha Kitt was one of my favorite singers. and here she is...

I'm young, thin, not butt ugly, and I fall in love with my own "magic man": a bad boy who is gorgeous and has a sense of humor. He is 6'2" with long dark auburn hair and incredible blue eyes with dark auburn lashes. He has freckles. He steals cars. He really likes me. It didn't last long, but it was memorable. This song also belongs to a heavy set guy named Joe with a Harley who was more sensitive than I thought (or cared) at the time.

I am divorced with a high school aged son. I ask Mary & St. Jude to send me someone I can love and someone who will love me. I get him. Be careful what you ask for, friends, you just may get it. We danced to this song. He was a "narcissistic predator" (my psych's words) who nearly destroyed my heart & soul, sadly, with my assistance.Fade Into You by Mazzy Star

Monday, November 24, 2008

Monday, November 17, 2008

You can read all about it here . The event will take place on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008. All you have to do is post on your blog a poem or song with the author and source, then maybe add an image. Words that you love or that touch you. Happy days!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

My friend, Janet (as shown in a prior posting), got me into an invitation only Zentangle book.I had never done a Zentangle on purpose, except for a practice one in a journal swap. So I did what I truly love to do: research! Lots and lots of Internet searching and I found lots and lots of inspiration from various sites (thanks to you all out there), and tutorials here .And here are my Zentangles and the front & back covers.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

update 12-17: I give up, Middlemarch is not for me.update 12-1: I started Middlemarch, so far, it's tough going.update to the update: I finally finished A Tale of Two Cities!update: Wednesday evening I started reading A Tale of Two Cities.

Friday, October 24, 2008

10-27-2008:UPDATE! Well, I wrote up my Final Wishes. The really hard part was the first time I wrote the "D" word. Once I had written "at the time of my death", I found it was much easier to write die, dead, death (though it gives me a tiny shiver now). One good thing about this, other than making things easier for whoever has to deal with the dead me, is that I am in the process of getting together important papers, the savings bonds I buy for my granddaughter, things along those lines, and to put all of this in one place that my son & my sister know about. I have to embellish the letter & envelope, and then I can seal it and put it away.

Michelle Ward's Crusade No.24 at GPP Street Team is a tough one. This Crusade asks that each person write her Final Wishes and leave it in an envelope for someone to find after she's gone. Can I do this? Well, of course I can, and I can see how it would help in a very emotional time. The decisions will probably have to be made by my son, and finding my letter describing my wishes (Final wishes) may help. This is one of my tasks for this weekend.

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

You should visit Kristin Hubick's Retro Cafe Art Gallery for 2 reasons:1) to visit & browse, and 2) to enter her very exciting giveaway!Just tell her: "Joanie sent me" (it won't make any difference, but it will be cool for me to see it!Happy weekend!

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Paper Traders Yahoo group has a Traveling Journal exchange starting this month. The theme of my journal is simply: WATER. This morning I mailed it to Diana in Kentucky. I used fabric on the front cover with machine stitching, beads, and embroidery. The back cover is a photo I took at Chicoteague, Virginia, of a sunrise, changed to black & white, and printed on fabric. More description later, maybe. Happy days!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

THE TRUTH IS: AGNES INDIGO IS HAUNTED. WHEN MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, NONNY, PICKED UP THE SHELL FROM THE BEACH, SHE WENT WHITE AS A SHEET, MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER, POPPY, SAID. BUT AFTER NONNY HELD AGNES TO HER EAR, EXPECTING TO HEAR THE USUAL OCEAN SOUNDS, POPPY SAID NONNY’S EXPRESSION BRIGHTENED, SHE SMILED, AND TOLD POPPY SHE WAS FINE. AND THEIR HONEYMOON CONTINUED. AT HOME, NONNY PUT AGNES INDIGO ON A ROUND TABLE BY A LACE CURTAINED WINDOW AND SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF MY FAMILY HAVE LISTENED TO AGNES. SOME HAVE HEARD HER SOFT, WINDY VOICE CHANTING MERMAID SONGS OF SIGHS, LONGING, AND TOO MUCH FREEDOM. SOME HAVE HEARD SONGS OF THE DOLPHINS AND THE WHALES. I’VE HEAR AGNES TELL STORIES OF THE MEN WHO SPENT THEIR LIVES ON THE SEAS, SOME WERE HONEST AND WEARY, AND SOME CRIMINAL AND ADVENTUROUS. BUT ALL LIVED DANGEROUS LIVES. MY FAMILY LOVES AGNES INDIGO, AND SHE, IN HER OWN WAY, MAY LOVE US. NOW, HOLD AGNES TO YOUR EAR, AND LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY. JOANIE HOFFMAN, 2008.(family image provided wonderfully by The Vintage Moth), card by me.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Cookie Sunshine is having a give away in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. Give aways are always fun, but visit the blog and stay awhile, you'll be glad you did! She just received her samples from Spoonflower, I can't wait to read more about this. The samples look terrific.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Something new for me. Doing 1 thing a day that's scary (or it can be 1 thing a week, a month, I decide). Take a look at Diary of a Self-Portrait for details. I haven't yet set my goal, but I'll update when I do. Be brave!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The cover is fabric and is very well padded. The inside of the front cover is my page for the Deco. Each artist will have their own page, front & back if they want. Then there is the back cover. Inside the back cover are tags for each artist to sign in. The blank book itself was a gift from a Nozey Beetle.